The United States Senate published a report Friday entitled “Online Advertising and Hidden Hazards to Consumer Security and Data Privacy.” It urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prompt the online advertising industry to enforce strict protections through regulation because online advertising threatens the security and privacy of web users.
The report, which was constructed following an investigation into evidence of malware in online ads, consisted of findings and suggestions from the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Malware attacks have been found on several networks, including Google and Yahoo!, and numerous cyber criminals have thwarted security measures by posing as legitimate advertisers and stealing credentials.
In the reported cases, affected users were not required to click on the ads and only a visit to a website where malicious ads were prevalent was enough to become infected by the malware.
This would make it extremely difficult for the user to avoid, locate the source or even to find out if the website they had just visited initiated an attack. The report further argued that consumer privacy was also at risk because the individual could not control what data was being collected, how and by whom.
After the report was released, the two search engine giants delivered testimony in Congress to inform lawmakers of their efforts to combat this practice known as “malvertising.”
Arizona Republican Senator and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain delivered remarks n the matter and congratulated the subcommittee’s staff on producing the report which has brought a significant issue to light.
“With the emergence of the Internet and e-commerce, more and more commonplace activities are taking place on the Internet, which has led to major advances in convenience, consumer choice, and economic growth,” said Senator McCain in a statement.
“These advances have also presented novel questions concerning whether consumer security and privacy can be maintained in the new technology-based world. We will examine these issues today specifically in the context of online advertising, where vast data is collected and cyber criminals exploit vulnerabilities in the system and use malware to harm consumers.”
The senate investigation concluded that the industry’s self-regulatory entities and bodies were insufficient to address this malware problem and data collection attacks. This is why officials are recommending the FTC to intervene and institute in-depth regulations to target these advertising practices.
AOL, Facebook, Google and Twitter recently established TrustInAds.org, a consumer outreach initiative that informs and educates the general public regarding ad-related scams, understanding the deceptive ads and offering security measures to take.
“Online advertising companies have battled these issues for years — dating all the way back to the infant stages of their respective platforms,”wrote Rob Haralson, executive director of TrustInAds.org, Wednesday in a blog post. “Many have developed large-scale systems to scan for malicious code, not only in the advertisements they serve, but also across the billions of sites that make up the web. And while our industry has made significant progress in fighting bad ads, the level of sophistication by scammers reaches new heights at every turn.”
According to a 2013 study by the Direct Marketing Association, the digital marketing industry is valued at $62 billion.
